A few days ago the subject here was hats and how people used to wear them all the time , but now — not so much. Today, I thought it might be interesting to think about some of the “famous” hats from over the years.
Throughout history, hats have been used to convey some meaning — a status symbol, political statement, or maybe just a style of dress. In fact, some styles have become popular or recognizable because of one particular individual.
Abraham Lincoln made the stovepipe popular — and famous. Lincoln was 6 feet 4 inches tall and his stovepipe hat accentuated his height even further. He used to keep papers and speeches tucked inside his hat and work on them at a later time, so his hat wasn’t just his headgear, but a repository for his working papers. Lincoln wore a stovepipe hat to Ford’s Theater on the night of his assassination. The hat was on the floor by his seat during the performance when he was shot. The chair he sat in and the hat were retrieved by the War Department as evidence in the trial of John Wilkes Booth. They were later given to the Smithsonian.
Winston Churchill was renowned for his hats. Churchill wore a lot of styles of hats, from top hats to bowler hats, but he is most famous for his homburg. The homburg is a felt hat with a curved brim and a dent that runs from front to back, and a grosgrain ribbon that forms a band. The hat was popularized in Britain by Prince Edward VII, who first discovered it on a visit to Bad Homburg in Germany in the 1880s.
Thomas More was Lord High Chancellor of England under Henry VIII and was a prominent Catholic intellectual. However, after refusing to recognize Henry VIII as the head of the Church of England, he sealed his fall from grace and was beheaded for treason in 1535. More was subsequently venerated as a saint by the Catholic Church, and his belongings — including his famous hat —have become saintly relics. His hat was a black velvet Tudor bonnet. At President Obama’s inauguration Justice Antonian Scalia wore a copy of Thomas More’s hat (given to him by the Thomas More Society.) St. Thomas More’s actual hat is on display at the St. John Paul II National Shrine in Washington D.C.
Napoleon always used imagery and clothing to convey power and status. He made the black-felted beaver fur bicorne (two-cornered) hat famous. Traditionally, the bicorne was worn with the corners facing to the front and back, but Napoleon, to make himself distinct on the battlefield, wore the hat sideways so that anyone scanning the crowds instantly knew it was him.
Coonskin caps are fur hats made from the skin of a raccoon — with the animal’s tail hanging down the back. Native Americans wore the caps, but by the 18th century, frontiersmen wore them as hunting caps. Davy Crockett, once a politician, had returned to Texas and became famous for his activities at the Alamo and made the coonskin cap famous. He was, in fact, wearing a coonskin cap when he was killed at the Alamo.
On November 16, 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt was photographed while on an inspection visit to the Panama Canal excavation. The picture showed Roosevelt at the controls of a steam-shovel and sporting a light straw hat with a black band. The newspapers called it Roosevelt’s “Panama” hat. The style that is now known as a Panama hat is actually traditionally made in Ecuador. The toquilla palm plant is used to weave it. These type of hats have been woven in Ecuador since the time of the Incas, but during the 1850s, many people travelled through Panama up to the United States for the gold rush, and Ecuadorian hat-sellers exported their wares to sell in Panama. The hats became even more popular during the building of the Panama Canal. The hats were popular because they shielded the workers faces from the sun. So because of Theodore Roosevelt, the Ecuadorian sombreros de papa toquilla forever became the Panama hat.
They say that clothes make the man, but in some cases, the man makes the hat. And those hats are famous because of these men… Napoleon used the bicorne to bring attention to himself on the battlefield, Lincoln wore the stovepipe hat to keep his speeches and add to his tall, powerful image and the homburg will always be associated with Winston Churchill and the values he stood for. Over the years hats have been more than a clothing accessory or a fashion statement — some were used to send certain messages… I guess that’s the power of a good hat.
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